Chair Roger Thompson called the meeting of the
2008-2009 Academic Coordinating Commission to order at 4:12 pm on Tuesday, May
12, 2009. There were ten (10) members present, the Recorder (1) and three
guests (3) for a total of fourteen.

Approval of ACC
minutes.
Members
approved minutes of April 28, 2009 with corrections to three sections.

Report from the Chair

·Chair Thompson
reported that a May 28th meeting is planned for the new CUE.

·A second invitational meeting for the campus curriculum committees
and administrative assistants to review new
forms and processes will be held after June 1st.

Appointments and Elections

Commissioners conducted a secret ballot vote for
single positions for which there was more than one candidate. Then in
one vote Commissioners appointed the following faculty to ACC Standing
Committees through 2011:

Standing Cte

Appointed May 12, 2009

Department

Area

Committee on Undergraduate Education
(CUE)

Kathleen Kennedy

History

C

Jeff Grimm

Psychology

B

Emily Borda

Chemistry

A

David Rossiter

Huxley

G

Matthew Miller

Elementary Ed

H

Paul Piper

Library

I

Elsi Vassdal Ellis

Art

D

Nicholas Wonder

F&M

E

Midori Takagi

Fairhaven

F

Honors Board

Brenda Miller,

English

C

Holly Folk

Liberal Studies

C

Rob Stoops

Liberal Studies

C

Admissions Committee

Ying Li

PEHR

B

Diana Gruman.

Psychology

B

Rosanne Kanhai

Women Studies

WS

Graduate Council

Matthew Liao-Troth

Management

E

Ethan Remmel

Psychology

B

Tracy Coskie

Elementary Ed

H

International Programs

Janet Xing

Modern & ClassLang

C

John Tuxill

Fairhaven

F

Marko Madunic

Management

E

ACTION ITEM:

5. READING OF CURRICULUM MINUTES (Exhibit B)

Curriculum Committee

Date

Topics

ACC Action

71

Graduate Council

5/2009

Review of MS in Mathematics

ACCEPTED

72

Woodring College

4/15/09

EDU297a Youth Mentoring

ACCEPTED

APPROVAL OF REVISED E-FORMS

Commissioners voted to approve a
new E-Form, “General University Requirements Course Proposal Form”.

A vote to approve the “Request for a New
Course” was postponed. Commissioners determined that the form is not
quite ready to become public because of concerns about a new process that may
involve department chairs signing off on course requests that have resource
implications.

The E-form has limitations and faculty would
like to avoid cumbersome use of word form attachments in order to answer are
questions such as:

Have these resource
implications been discussed at the college and department level?

If there are no
resource implications, please say why (for example, this course is a substitute
course)

Commissioners may consider a standard disclaimer
placed on the bottom of the E-form so that unit heads do not have to open
additional word form attachments.

The challenge is to have some way for those that
disperse resources or hire faculty to have a more centralized way to learn about
upcoming demands before the course or program decisions takes effect.

Another issue that arose is the question of
passing grade which appear differently in the Catalog than on the forms. Kathy
Knutzen reported that in her understanding a “D” is a passing undergraduate
grade for credit, according to WWU practice; however some of the forms say
“C-“. This actually occurs in one drop down menu on the GUR forms, and for a
non-prerequisite undergraduate course “D” is generally a credit bearing grade.
This needs to be clarified. Further discussion will no doubt ensue to determine
whether variations in grade requirements may be allowed to happen only in the
major if a department so determines.

STRAW VOTE – RE COMMISSIONER’S CONCERN

Graduation Honors

Commissioners rejected (by one in a
close straw vote without quorum) a request for an exception for 17 students
to be allowed Graduation Honors. With the understanding that the graduation
policy was a matter for the ACC, the concern was brought by the Registrar who
asked for a one time only exception until the policy is reviewed because the
restriction appears to impose undue and probably unintentional hardship. The
Registrar was particularly concerned because with a huge community college
structure in this State we welcome transfer students with the expectation they
will have some equal footing with the rest of our students.

At issue
is the fact that these 17 students will finish with only 75 credits at Western
when the policy requires that 90 credits be completed at Western in order to
achieve Graduation Honors.

In addition
the policy allows them to transfer in with 105 credits from a community
college which means they only need 75 credits to reach the required 180. The
two parts of the Honors policy do not then coincide.

However, Commissioners were leery of any
exception which might unduly favor these students over others who have stayed at
the university to acquire their 90 credits.

The policy is inconsistent
and somewhat unfair and needs complete review not only with regard to transfer
students but also students who study abroad and who are denied Graduation Honors
because of a junior and senior residency requirement. The topic will come back
at a future meeting.

Adjournment 5:50 pm

Rose Marie Norton-Nader,
Recorder, May 12, 2009

ACADEMIC COORDINATING
COMMISSION 2008-2009 ROSTER

Voting
Membership (term ending 2009)

Chair – Roger
Thompson 2008-2009

1

A – Roger Anderson,
Biology (SENATOR) rep to UPC

P

Vice Chair –
James Hearne

2

A - James Hearne,
Computer Science, Vice Chair (4 yr)

Exc

3

A – Spencer
Anthony-Cahill, Chemistry (SENATOR)

P

Ex Officio

4.

D – Mark Kuntz,
Theater

--

17

Provost Murphy (v)

Exc

5

E – Yvonne Durham,
Economics, CBE

P

18

Lisa
Zuzarte (Catalog Coordinator) nv

P

6

G – Robin Matthews,
Huxley

--

19

Susanna
Yunker, Acting Registrar, nv

P

7

H –Marsha Riddle
Buly, Woodring,

Tracy
Thorndike Christ, Woodring

--

Membership (term
ending 2010)

Guests:

8

B – Billie Lindsey,
PEHR, rep to GER Cte

P

1

Steven VanderStaay, VPUE

P

9

C – Roger
Thompson, History, CHAIR

P

2

Kathy Knutzen, Assoc Dean, CHSS

P

10

E - Kristi Tyran,
Management

P

3

Tracy Thorndike-Christ, Woodring,

P

11

F - Julie Helling,
Fairhaven

P

12

I – Sylvia Tag,
Library,

--

13

S - Andrea Godard,
ASVP-Academics, 2008-2009

P

3

Rose Marie
Norton-Nader, Recorder

P

14

S - Nikki Brown, AS

--

Members Present

10

15

S - Brianne Kumar,
AS

--

Recorder and
Guests

4

16

S- Shanai
Lechtenberg, AS

--

TOTAL PRESENT
May 12, 2009

14

Members (18):
12 faculty
(2yr terms) representing each area with 2 as Senators. 6 more members
include: Provost (nv), Catalog Coordinator (ex officio) and 4
students (1 ASVP). ACC sends reps: to UPC and to GER Cte. Registrar &
Recorder are permanent guests.